Dark Souls 3’s v1.04 Update Releases Today, Includes Performance Improvements

April 28, 2016

If you've tried playing Dark Souls 3 for the past couple hours, you may have noticed that the servers were offline. This is intentional, as FromSoftware was pushing a massive patch that has introduced welcomed changes.

Dark Souls 3's v1.04 patch focuses primarily on tuning and balancing the game, with attention given to bugs that have occurred for some players during the Dragonslayer Armour and Crystal Sage battles, as well as quest fixing. But it also includes performance improvements, which for many players with lower-end systems is a godsend.

The full patch notes are below:

Balance Changes:

The range of the matching level of the Blade of the Darkmoon and the Blue Sentinels have been adjusted.
The efficiency of the following categories has been adjusted: Short Sword, Twinsword and Magic.
Other game balance improvement and bug fixes.

Game Improvements:

Item collection during multiplayer while accessing NPC and Covenant Alter is now working as intended.
Conditions for optional events is eased.
Conditions to get Rosaria’s Finger is eased.
If they haven’t visited the Untended Grave, players will not be teleported there.
Kicks cannot be parried.
The Crystal Sage will appropriately re-appear even after he has warped.
The Dragonslayer Armour won’t die before the battle.
Knight Slayer Tsorig will no longer gesture unintendedly.
Siegward of Catarina will now be able to properly rescue Greirat once conditions are met.
If the player is equipped with a ring that increases Max HP, stats will now be properly reflected when opening the equipment screen.
The voice chat icon will now be displayed properly under the covenant panel.
Items, bonfire and the “Quit Game” option are now appropriately active even when disconnecting online.
If the game disconnects during a multiplayer session, it will no longer crash and return to the title screen.
Other issues causing crashes and returning to the title screen have been fixed.
Adjustments of the balance of game, improvements of performance and various bug fixes have been made.

After some testing, it appears that the performance improvements are quite significant, with lower-end PCs seeing dramatic increase in framerates. In regards to weapon balancing, the jury is still out on that one. Hopefully your favorite weapons aren't made irrelevant.

Although Jonathan Leack began covering the gaming industry in 2009, his earliest roots date back to 2004 when he wrote his first of many reviews to come. Equipped with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and several information technology certifications, he provides a unique perspective that is technological and business conscious. Having acquired the role of Executive Editor in 2016, his mission is to make GameRevolution a gaming site that thoughtfully considers the consumer perspective, and has a knowledgeable presence of PC gaming, console, hardware, and eSports coverage.